For clerks

The new Michigan clerk’s first 90 days: a compliance checklist

Nobody inherits a clerk's office at the start of a clean fiscal year with an empty inbox. You inherit it mid-cycle, with clocks already running. This is the sequence that keeps the statutory ones from going off first.

Published July 11, 2026 · Dekree
The statutory facts
Week 1
Locate and secure: the FOIA log, open deadlines, procedures + public summary, the coordinator designation, the annual meeting schedule, the minutes archive, the logins
Weeks 2-4
Stabilize the clocks: calendar every statutory deadline, verify the fee schedule, review recent responses, meet the attorney, audit the website
Months 2-3
Build the system: one intake channel, response templates, retention reconciliation, a cross-trained deputy, one full dry run

Week 1: locate and secure

The first week is not about improving anything. It is about finding the things whose absence can hurt the office while you are still learning where the coffee filters are.

  • The FOIA log, and every open deadline in it. If there is no log, open the FOIA inbox and reconstruct one today; the log template takes ten minutes to adopt. Any request inside its 5-day window (MCL 15.235) is your first priority.
  • The published procedures, guidelines, and public summary. Required by MCL 15.234(4), and without them the office may not charge any fee. If they do not exist, calendar their adoption now (template here).
  • The FOIA coordinator designation (MCL 15.236), which may name your predecessor and need updating (how the role works).
  • The posted annual meeting schedule for every public body you serve (MCL 15.265(2)): it is what keeps regular meetings lawfully noticed while you find your feet.
  • The minutes archive: approved minutes, proposed minutes awaiting approval, and the closed-session minutes, which are a separate, clerk-retained, non-public set (MCL 15.267(2)). Confirm you physically have them.
  • The logins. Website CMS, email, records systems, bank portals, state filing portals. Access is continuity.
The new clerk’s 90-day checklist

Every item in this article as a printable working document, grouped by week. Free, no email required. Word (.docx).

Weeks 2 through 4: stabilize the clocks

With nothing actively on fire, the next stretch is about making every deadline visible before it is urgent.

  • Calendar every statutory clock. FOIA responses due, minutes deadlines for each body (8 business days proposed, 5 after approval, MCL 15.269(3)), and notice requirements for anything special or rescheduled (18 hours, MCL 15.265(4); the rules are in the 18-hour guide).
  • Verify the fee schedule. The contracted-redaction cap runs off the state minimum wage, which changes; in 2026 the wage is $13.73 and the cap is $82.38 per hour. An outdated worksheet quietly overcharges or undercharges (fee guide).
  • Read the last six months of FOIA responses. Open extensions, unpaid deposits approaching the 45-day abandonment line (MCL 15.234(14)), and the exemptions your office customarily cites.
  • Meet the attorney. Agree on what gets legal review before it goes out: denials, closed-session questions, anything involving personnel.
  • Audit the website against reality. Are the procedures, summary, meeting schedule, and minutes actually posted and findable? The website is where statutory availability increasingly lives.

Months 2 and 3: build the system you wish you had inherited

The last phase converts firefighting into routine. Consolidate intake so every request enters through one door and gets logged the day it arrives. Build the five response templates (acknowledgment, extension, grant, denial with citations, fee estimate) so the clock never waits on drafting. Reconcile what the office actually keeps against the retention schedules that govern it, GS #10 for townships, GS #24 for city and village clerks (how the schedules work). Cross-train a deputy on the log and the minutes workflow, because the office should survive your vacation. And then run one full dry run end to end: receive a request, log it, estimate the fee, respond, file the trail. If the dry run is smooth, the real ones will be.

How Dekree handles this

The fastest version of this checklist is inheriting it already built. Dekree gives a new clerk the running system on day one: the request log with deadlines computed, the meeting calendar with notice rules applied per body, minutes drafted from recordings for review, the published procedures and fee worksheet generated and posted, and the prior office’s spreadsheet imported during onboarding.

See it on a 20-minute demo

Common questions

What is the single most urgent thing for a new clerk to check?

Open FOIA deadlines. Requests answer to a 5-business-day clock (MCL 15.235) that did not pause for the transition, and a late response can cut the labor fees the office may charge by 5% per day up to 50% (MCL 15.234(9)). Find the log, or the inbox where requests land, on day one.

What if the office has no FOIA procedures or public summary?

Adopting them moves to the top of the list: a public body that has not published its procedures, guidelines, and written public summary may not require deposits or charge any FOIA fee until it complies (MCL 15.234(4)).

What meeting obligations transfer immediately?

The posted annual meeting schedule keeps regular meetings noticed (MCL 15.265(2)), but any special or rescheduled meeting needs its own 18-hour posted notice (MCL 15.265(4)), and minutes deadlines keep running: proposed minutes within 8 business days of each meeting, approved minutes within 5 business days of approval (MCL 15.269(3)).

This article is educational information for Michigan public bodies, current as of the publication date. It is not legal advice, and statutes and court decisions change. Confirm specifics with your municipal attorney. Statute text: legislature.mi.gov.

Or inherit a running system: Dekree gives a new clerk day-one footing.

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